Growing Up
by WhiteFerrets
Summary: A summer assignment gets thirteen-year-old Blaine Anderson worrying about the future, so on a day out with his best friend, he asks to Sam about it. Middle-school!Blam. Friendship.


**A/N: An anon on tumblr requested middle-school!Blam talking about the future. So this happened.**

**Rating: PG  
****Warning: N/A  
****Word Count: 1700+  
Characters: Blaine Anderson/Sam/Evans**

**Summary: A summer assignment gets thirteen-year-old Blaine Anderson worrying about the future, so on a day out with his best friend, he asks to Sam about it.**

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Sam collapses onto the blanket beside Blaine, sweaty and panting, and Blaine laughs loudly at how red his face is. The black Labrador he'd just been chasing follows him eagerly, bounding over them and causing both boys to groan in pain as her paws land in unfortunate places. The dog eventually curls up by Sam and the boy lifts his head, dropping it back onto her stomach and using her as a pillow. If it bothers her, she doesn't protest.

The summer sun beats down on them ruthlessly, and after two weeks of sunbathing and shirtless water fights, Sam and Blaine are both proud to say that they're both sporting spectacular golden tans. Or at least, as spectacularly golden as one can get in Westerville, Ohio. They're thirteen, ready to go into their final year of middle school, but for now they're making the most of the free time.

Blaine sits up and leans over Sam's legs for their water bottle and sun cream, letting out a grunt as he stretches across. Sam fights the urge to knee him in the chest, just to make him choke on his mouthful of water, but he leans back before Sam's resolve breaks.

"Pass me my sunglasses, would you?"

Blaine already has sun cream on his fingers but he tosses Sam's glasses across anyway, hitting him in the face and getting sun cream on his nose.

"You're an ass," Sam says with a laugh, wiping the cream off of his face and cleaning his glasses on his swimming trunks.

"You love me," Blaine retorts as he busies himself with the sun cream, rubbing it into his arms rhythmically. Sam watches him idly through his lenses, one hand lazily scratching his dog's ear as a comfortable silence settles between the boys.

Blaine's working on his shoulders when he asks, "Have you started Fitz's assignment yet?"

Sam lets out a snort. "The one about the future? I haven't even looked at it. And dude, you know I'm cool with you being gay and everything but it's still kind of creepy that you call him Fitz."

Blaine wrinkles his nose. "Screw you, man, I _don't_ have a crush on him. I mean, he's hot, but he totally has a stick up his ass — and not in the good way. I just think it's weird that his name is Fitzpatrick. He's not even Irish!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sam says with a knowing smile, pushing the sunglasses up his nose as Blaine begins to rub the sun cream into his chest with a pout. "Either way, I haven't looked at the assignment since he set it, and I don't plan on looking at it until the summer's over."

"I was looking at it last night," Blaine continues, his brow creasing slightly in thought. "It's all about, like, what we're going to do about college and careers and stuff. I was talking to Coop and apparently college is stressful as hell. I mean, I'm still gonna go, but I guess it kinda got me thinking."

Sam hums absently, only partially paying attention. He's so used to his best friend's antics that he can sense a _Wordy Blaine Anderson Ramble_ coming before Blaine even opens his mouth.

"And, like, what about careers? I have _no_ idea what I want to do. Ideally I'd like to perform of course, or at least work in the performing business somehow, y'know? But Dad would never go for it, and there's never any kind of guarantee with that kind of thing. And it's not like it's my only option, but it's the only thing I really care about at this point and I just-"

"You're rambling," Sam cuts in, smiling in amusement. "You want me to do your back?"

"I have to do my legs but in a minute, yeah," Blaine replies comfortably, pouring more sun cream onto his hands and stretching his legs out in front of him. "And I don't mean to ramble, but seriously? The future is kind of intimidating. I still have to come out to like, _everyone_, and then I need to get out of Ohio — or maybe get out of Ohio first, but I don't think I can wait that long. Do you think I could be a journalist? Dad might go for that actually. And I was thinking, like, maybe while I'm still getting on my feet, I could even do performances on the side to raise some extra cash. Like, how awesome would that be? Hey, you, Blondie. Back."

Blaine nudges Sam with his foot to get his attention before rolling onto his stomach and handing him the sun cream. Sam sighs at the prospect of moving but crawls over to Blaine and takes the bottle anyway. He straddles his back, sitting on his ass, and it's a position they've been in so many times that neither of them think twice of it anymore.

Blaine crosses his arms in front of him and rests his cheek on them, looking back at Sam as the blond pours sun cream on his fingers.

"What about you? Are you gonna go to college?"

"Probably won't be able to afford it," Sam admits quietly, his fingers moving over Blaine's back effortlessly as he works the cream into the skin.

"Well … what do you want to do when you grow up?"

Sam shrugs. "I don't know. Own a comic book shop or something."

Blaine hums happily and gives a small nod as Sam's hands slide up his back and Blaine arches against the touch instinctively. Sam's fingers follow the lines of Blaine's broad shoulder blades, curling into the bone. Once the cream's rubbed in thoroughly, he pulls his hands away to get more sun cream and Blaine sags into the picnic blanket again with a content smile on his face.

"If you could be anything in the world, anything at all, what would you be?"

"Superman," Sam says with a wide grin, his hands returning to Blaine's back.

"No, I mean like, seriously. For a career. No limitations, no family expectations or anything. What would you be?"

"Superman," Sam repeats.

"Sam!" Blaine whines, swinging his feet up behind him to kick Sam in the back sharply. "Play along."

"Alright, alright, jeez," Sam says quickly, leaning forward to avoid Blaine's feet as they swing towards him again. "Keep your feet to yourself. I guess I'd be, I don't know, like a football player or something? Maybe a soccer player … Or an actor! I could see us on a romantic comedy series as the side characters that live together. Like, the ones that everyone is convinced are screwing but then in the finale they're both married to girls and the viewers send in loads of angry hate mail because their fantasies weren't real. We'd kill those roles, right?"

Blaine laughs so hard that he startles the dog and almost topples Sam off of him, but Sam's right there with him, propping himself up on one arm and clutching his sides with the other as their laughter fills the park.

"You're insane," Blaine says once they've calmed down enough to breathe, a wide grin on his face.

Sam goes back to rubbing the sun cream in, his grin matching Blaine's. "Well, what would you be? If you didn't have to worry about impressing your dad, what career would you choose?"

Blaine's grin fades into a soft, thoughtful smile. He lets out a sigh, resting his head on his arms and looking over at the lake. "I'd just do … everything. Broadway, movies, TV. Maybe I'd even work on an album or something, start a music career."

"As long as I get VIP tickets and backstage passes to all of your concerts, I'll support you every step of the way."

"Come on, have you heard the way you play guitar?" Blaine scoffs. "You'd be on stage with me, man."

"Nah," Sam says bashfully, rubbing the last of the cream into Blaine's back before wiping his hands on his trunks and rolling back onto the blanket.

"Do you want me to do your back?"

"Eh, I think I'll be good for another half an hour or so."

Sam lays on his stomach beside Blaine and Blaine turns his head, resting his other cheek on his arms instead so they can look at each other. They fall into a comfortable silence, soaking the sun up and enjoying the serenity of the moment. Blaine looks thoughtful, almost sad, and his eyes are vacant as he gets lost in his thoughts.

Sam nudges him with foot and raises an eyebrow, making Blaine sigh.

"Is it weird that I'm kind of scared?" Blaine mumbles.

Sam frowns. "Scared of what?"

"Just everything. The future, I guess. I'm already letting my dad control my life. Cooper … he acts like he loves what he does, but I know he's only doing it to please Dad. I don't want to be that kid. But at the same time, I don't want to disappoint him. He'll hate me enough as it is once he finds out I like guys, and I don't want to give him any more of a reason." Blaine gets a worried little frown on his face and his nose scrunches slightly. "And what if I don't find someone to spend the rest of my life with? Hell, what if I don't even make it out of Ohio?"

"You'll still have me," Sam says with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"You know what I mean," Blaine groans. "What if I just never accomplish anything worthwhile?"

"We're thirteen, dude. You have time to worry about that when you're like, old."

"… I guess."

"Besides, even if you don't make it Broadway and I don't become Superman, we still have the gay roommates idea as Plan B, right?" Sam says with a mischievous grin.

Blaine's eyes sparkle and his face crinkles with amusement before the laughter hits him. The sound of his loud, bright laughs is enough to set Sam off too. It doesn't take long until they're both doubled over with laughter, clutching their stomachs and attracting the attention of everyone that walks by.

Any and all worries Blaine had about the future disappear as he lays there with his best friend, his wide grin and contagious laughter making it impossible to feel down. And Sam's right, after all. He has time to worry and work things out later. For now, he's just going to make the most of his summer and enjoy every single second of his final year of middle school.

For now, life can be as easy as he chooses it to be.

And as long as he's friends with Sam, that choice is pretty much made for him.

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_**FIN.**_  
**Feedback is appreciated. (:**


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